So, tonight I had a hard time falling asleep and decided to mill about on Netflix in the hopes of finding something worthwhile. I stumbled upon a movie called "Cronos" (rated R for horror violence and language) -- one of Guillermo del Toro's earliest works: a dark, but thought-provoking 'horror' film without the special effects. This is far from your typical vampire movie, and just as far from the modern-day gory, fast-paced thriller. With a little bit of dark humor injected into the right places, and a refreshing twist of cinematography, this movie definitely stood out from the stuff I'd usually watch online (or elsewhere, for that matter). This is an interesting insight into how Del Toro began his filmmaking career -- noting that he is most known for the Hell Boy series, Blade, and my personal favorite, Pan's Labyrinth. Definitely worth watching, if you're in the mood for something dark, yet intelligent.

Brief plot summary from the site:
After an ancient device attaches itself to his body, aging antiques dealer Jesus (Federico Luppi) struggles to cope with an insatiable thirst for human blood, a menacing brute (Ron Perlman) dead set on retrieving the mechanism and the gradual realization that he cannot die. The directorial debut of acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, this thrilling vampire tale co-stars Tamara Shanath as Jesus's granddaughter, Aurora.

Be warned: this movie has subtitles, but uses relatively simple Spanish, and is about halfway split, alternating between English and Spanish.

My favorite little observation of this movie is that unlike most things you'd see today, there are a lot of clues in the beginning of the film that will reveal themselves immediately to the keen watcher, but creep up on you slowly toward the end of the movie. It's delightful when you see a bit of irony and foreshadowing, as opposed to the overwhelming predictability of most of today's films. :P